Many of us are not in a position to donate much money or put in volunteer time near the front lines of this war. I sure admire the foreign soldiers fighting in the Ukrainian army.

However, if we are looking at the long-term, we can take a different path.

In 1991, Ukraine got a brand new constitution: a gift from political scientists around the world. This constitution did not prevent the kleptocracy that arose--and average Ukrainians grew distrustful of their new democracy.

A gift we could give to Ukraine (and the rest of the world) would be to create a kinder, wiser democracy. I have written a brief essay of this new democracy.

https://medium.com/tiered-democratic-governance/the-tdg-essay-cf48e4b4a1eb

It will take time to build this democracy. I estimate 10 to 20 years.

This might sound like a big commitment. But the early building will require only about 10 hours a month. There should be no sacrifice of occupation or family obligations. There might be a little sacrifice of recreation.

For those of us in relatively peaceful localities, this can be our contribution to the war effort. Other localities will look at our example and build similar democracies. There will be fewer wars.